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Sanjay Majumder
Normally Windows users install individual software on their machines to tackle viruses, hacking and phishing attacks. But that is not enough and you need to constantly update these software to keep your system fully protected. Configuring and maintaining individual threat management software is a pain. Microsoft has brought a solution called Windows Live OneCare, which has integrated antivirus, antispyware and Windows firewall. It gives you a single console for managing antivirus, spyware, firewall and performance tuning. In addition, you can take backup of your system. You can download a 90 day trial copy of this software from www.windowsonecare.com/purchase.
This software runs quietly as a background process on your machine. The user does not have to worry about interruptions by spyware, viruses, phishing scams, hackers or other unwanted intruders. Plus, it also offers you tools for taking backups and cleaning of all temp files for speeding up the system performance.
| Direct Hit! |
Applies To: Windows users
Price: Rs 2,250 approx (for 3 PCs)
USP: Complete protection for your PC-firewall, antispyware and antivirus-in one tool
Primary Link: www.windowsonecare.com
Google Keywords: Windows Live OneCare |
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Once installed, it checks your system and automatically configures all threat management elements on your system. You get an icon 'One' on the system tray. If the icon appears green, your system status is 'OK.' If it icon appears yellow, ('Fair' status), it means you need to take some action such as scheduling or running a tune-up or backup, or downloading a non-critical update. A yellow icon means there is no immediate threat to your system.
But if the same icon appears red, it means your computer is 'At Risk.' This can happen, for example, when Windows Live OneCare is unable to update antivirus with the latest virus definitions due to a lost Internet connection, or if the Windows Live OneCare Firewall is turned off. You can configure each tool from its interface just by a button or link given inside its interface. For example, if you suspect any virus or spyware in your machine, go to the 'Protection Plus' option and click 'Scan for virus and spyware.' This will immediately start the virus and spyware scanning process. Windows Live OneCare runs in the background and takes only 1,888 K memory.
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| You can see the current status of all threat management tools running on your system |
It also checks for Windows updates automatically and patches your system there and then. For users' convenience and security, the tool has very limited configuration options for the user to playing around with. And these are easy to configure for a novice. The tool also supports third party anti-virus and spyware and updates them regularly. As an anti-phishing measure, it keeps real-time eye on Web pages that you access and if it finds any suspicious activity, it alerts you immediately.
Overall, a good piece of software that provides threat management under a single umbrella.
Source: PCQuest
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